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The sister route to Pale Face, this one starts with a fun 5.10 dihedral roof. After this continue up the slab and arête on good holds until it gets steep and thin. Do a tricky move and then head to the left side. Climb straight up for a few bolts to an overhang. Move back right here to the crack then continue on a leftward diagonal past thin holds to the anchors. A 70 meter rope will JUST lower to the ground with rope stretch. If you're a bit short move up the hill to the right a bit (be sure to tie a Knot In the End of your rope!).

7 Comments

edited: One of my 70m ropes didn't reach, I had to untie & downclimb from the 1st bolt (not that big of a deal). But my other 70m rope did reach. Be careful. [and it sounds like my short 70m rope isn't really 70m.]
Dec 28, 2014

Aggreed George, definitely be careful. I have 2 70m ropes and one is a least 10' shorter than the other one. I used the longer rope when doing the route. Don't know if my shorter 70 reaches. Some ropes also shrink a bit over time and rope stretch/elasticity is another variable in the equation. This pitch is a REAL ROPE STRETCHER!! Knot that end and be careful all.
Dec 29, 2014

Our 70m rope (brand new Sterling 9.8mm) was plenty long enough - about 10 feet to spare. Outstanding climbing but poor rock quality. Lots of choss to kick off if you're not careful and an alarming percentage of the big chalked up holds have cracks coming down off them that suggest they're ready to go at any time. A few made hollow echos when I knocked on them. I climbed carefully without pulling down on anything harder than necessary and really enjoyed the experience. I'll certainly get back on this route (a great warmup, especially on winter mornings when other walls are too cold), but wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone inexperienced in choss climbing. Lee H - I disagree with your impression that this route will clean up with more traffic. It'll likely continue to exfoliate for years to come.
Nov 10, 2015

Dave, I guess I was being overly optimistic when I posted, since the roof and the crux move up higher were really fun. Your post made me realize how stressed I was between those two points. I ended up quitting like 3 bolts below the anchor because I kicked two or three chunks of rock off on accident, and my belayer forgot his helmet.
Dec 6, 2015

Heads Up!!! There is a lot..ALOT of loose rock on this route. At least 1/2 a dozen holds are marked as loose and at least that many are not marked that are clearly suspect. Unless you are familiar with the route and/or the rock at Diablo I would not recommend climbing this route until it has been thoroughly cleaned again.
Nov 27, 2016